A few readers of our site seem to ‘disapprove’: they feel that we are being unfair, and unkind to poor Jim Perrin… and as they are unable to respond to us directly they have posted their comments on other sites. This particular group — the majority of whom we believe to be Jim Perrin in ‘chameleon’ guise ref. A question of identity? — can have no knowledge of our sister’s life and, as ‘the dead have no right of reply’, we are as resolved as ever to correct whenever possible all the untruthful things Jim Perrin has written about his short relationship with her. Continue reading
Author Archives: Jacssisters
Swallow Falls
When our sister was given her diagnosis of cancer she chose not to tell her partner, Jim Perrin. On coming home from the hospital she withheld the news in order to protect him — deciding instead, despite her own new terror, to give him no worry; no extra cause for grief or concern.
Jac knew how hard it was for him — how anguished he was, following the recent and unexpected death of his son. And with the book — which he later described in a letter to her as ‘This book which has been an albatross for years’ — nearing completion*, she did everything she could to give him the peace and tranquility he required for his work.
Despite all her efforts though, unfortunately they were never sufficient: he, in his newly bereaved distress, would not ‘let go’ and continued as before to compare unfavourably (with his usual criticism and accusation) the actions and behaviour of her sons with those of his own — the son now lost to him.
How could one imagine Jim Perrin’s sense of devastation — his own son no longer there? Not ‘lost’ through illness or by accident — but in the last despairing act of his own hand; whilst our sister’s sons, for whom he felt no affinity and whom he disliked to the point of detestation, were alive and very much in evidence with their youth and natural vitality. (‘Detestation’ is not a facile exaggeration. Later, Jim Perrin went on to assault Jac’s younger son in a physical attack — an incident which was reported to, and logged by, the police.) Continue reading
Jac goes home
After her stay at Jim Perrin’s house in Llanrhaeadr ym Mochnant — her ‘recovery period’ of barely three weeks when she damaged her ribs — Jac went home to her family and her cats and continued with her life as before. Jim Perrin organised the sale of his property and then, in September, the move to our sister’s house — (the move which he had orchestrated and, it became apparent later, had been his plan all along).
However, this was not at all straightforward as frequently such arrangements can be problematical particularly when there are children involved. So far, before Jim Perrin arrived, their time together had been very short indeed, a matter of only months and then only intermittently, but Jac carried on with her life and her stained-glass work and he continued with his writing — a crucial deadline was imminent and he needed to finish the book on which he had been working. There were incipient problems between Jim Perrin and Jac’s sons, some of which were sufficiently serious to cause real concern, but they all attempted to work through these together.
In the Summer of 2004 Jim Perrin was given the news of which nightmares are made; that one of his sons had taken his own life. Our sister supported him with all her pity and care: but how could a father, in such circumstances, and such deep grief, be comforted? It was a period of utter desolation.
Jac’s sisters.